Wednesday, February 05, 2014

Ten Thousand Strong - Eight Years of Memories

Hi folks
I was going to do a short retrospective blog a couple of weeks back when this blog passed 10,000 page views, but other stuff seemed more important at the time. But today, it's time to look back a little.
I started this blog at the end of 2005, in fact I had one post in December 2005, not long before I took off on my ill fated 2006 journey to West Africa. 10,000 hits since then isn't really so many, I know, it took just over eight years. So what's that? 3 views a day? Well that's pretty sucky screw you guys, I'm...

:P

Ok know I am incredibly grateful for the support of everyone over the years who has followed my blog.

Since my first post, I have visited -

Ghana, Togo, Benin, Niger, Burkina Faso, Jordan, the UAE, Ethiopia, Russia, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Finland, the UK, Mali, Senegal, France, Germany, Vietnam, China, Laos, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Luxembourg, Cameroon, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Indonesia, Uzbekistan and Japan. Whew. I think that's all of them. Nope - Georgia! How could I forget Georgia? That's 31 countries! And I've blogged about and probably from each one.

The 2006 trip didn't go to plan. I got malaria and then disappeared from the blog under the misapprehension that no-one was reading it and subsequently freaked people out. I am still sorry about that one. This is my 273rd post. Recently I've noticed a lot of readers from the US have been tuning into the blog - so hello! And now a quick rundown of my travels since I started the blog.

January 2006 - My first trip to West Africa started in Ghana. I did not cope well.


February 2006 - I moved through to Burkina Faso. Just as I was feeling on top of travelling again, I got malaria.


October 2007 - It was time to travel again, I started with the Baltic countries - this is Tallinn, beautiful Tallinn.


November 2007 - Mali, with friends, an amazing experience back in West Africa. I had to returned first to Burkina Faso to cross to Mali by land because the main airport in Mali was closed for runway repairs. 


November 2007 - I made it to Dakar, Senegal, a place that was to finish my dream of going from Dhaka, Bangladesh, to Dakar, Senegal.


October 2009, Dubai, UAE. Yes it's 40 plus outside, but inside a mall you can go to the snow!


A challenge met and conquered - trekking the Simien Mountains in Ethiopia, November 2009


Big trip time again, and not long after March 11, I landed in Japan in 2011 as part of the trip where I was mesmerised by lights, karaoke, warm toilet seats and cosplay!


June 2011 - the sun beat down on me in Uzbekistan, but I was still taken by the beauty of this place as I explored Central Asia.



July 2011 - The UK. I got my geek on and met some of the legends of Doctor Who.


 September - December 2011 - I lived and worked in Georgia, teaching English and falling in love with a wonderful country. This is the capital, Tbilisi. 

January 2013 - Sri Lanka. I climbed a big rock and had my wallet stolen. 


And that's where I am today. Well, I'm in Japan actually. But things can change, and the journeying continues. Stay tuned to this blog for more! and Thank you all!

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